Attitude Formation

dissonance theory

thoery stating that inconsistent attitudes or cognitons initive attitude change

Briefly explain what is meant when someone says, "We live in an age of propaganda."

: Living in an age of propaganda reflects the idea that we are often bombarded with attempts to persuade our influences daily. Efforts from others asking us to join groups, buy new products, or attempting to convince us that our perceptions are wrong are just a few examples of how we are bombarded with propaganda daily.

Attitude Formation

Attitude is a predisposition to response in particular ways towards specific things. Three main elements of an attitude: a belief or opinion about something, feelings about that thing, a tendency to act toward that thing is certain ways

How can attitudes help keep us out of dangerous situations?

Attitudes guide us toward or away from certain situations. For example, we develop negative attitudes toward dangerous situations and so avoid those situations. Students may use specific examples to make their point.

Describe two reasons why attitudes are inconsistent in predicting specific behavior.

One reason attitudes are inconsistent in predicting behavior is because many individuals behave in spontaneous ways and often do not think about their attitudes before acting. Another reason is because behavior is often influenced by the dynamics of a situation, such as expectations of behavior and how one wants to be perceived by others.

attitude

a complex mental state consisting of postive or negative evaluations, beliefs and feelings

foot in the door tehcnique

compliance techniwur that consists of persuading a person to agree to a large request by getting one to agree to a small request first

lowball technique

compliancee tehcnique in which a person is persuiaded to commit to an action before hidden costs or agendas are revealed

Where do attitudes come from

conditioning classical conditioning-like pavlov's dog, people can learn attitudes in different situation. Ex. when something you like is paired with an unknown, you begin to have an atitude towards the unknown Operant conditioning-we recieve praise or approval for expressing some attidues or we may be punished for expressing other attitudes. Cognitive evaluation sometimes we develop attitudes toward something without stoppin to think about it. Ex. a friend uses big words and stats when speaking about a specific political issue. You may agree because she sounds like she knows whats hes talking about. WHen this happens you have used a heuristic, a mental shortcut, to form ana ttitude cognitive evaluation we may sit down and systematically think about an issue. evalue pros and cons. In important matters you do not want to rely on shortcuts.

Other sources of attiude

culture-influences everything from outr taste in food to our attitudes toward human relationships and our political opinions parents-there is abundant evidence that all of us acquired many basic attitudes from our parents. parental influence wanes as children get older peers-Theodore Newcomb conducted numerous studies on this source of attitude. he found that people tend to adopt the likes and dislikes of groups whose approval and acceptance they seek.

cognitive evaluation

evaluating evidence and forming beliefs on the basis of these evaluations

functions of attitudes

reflect our beliefs and values as we define ourselves, interpret the objects and events we encounter and determine how we may act in given situations. attitudes as a self defining mechanism-when a person descibres himself often attitudes will be inclu in the descroption. self concept refers to how we see or descibe outselves. social groups as well as individuals hold attitudes attitudes as cognitive guidelines and guides to action. out attitudes serve as guidelines in interpreting and categorizing people, onkects and events. attitudes play a role in determining behavior.

reciprocity norm

social expecation that suggests that poelpe should give back in kinda what they receive from others

cognitive dissonance

uncomfortable feeling that occurs when ideas contradict or when related cognitons are inconsistent